


Helping Hand

by GoldenS0422



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anakin is her teaching assistant, F/M, Fluff, Modern Era, Padmé is a young professor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26578837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenS0422/pseuds/GoldenS0422
Summary: Ah, Coruscant University, the one place Anakin dreamed to teach in. Unfortunately, he had to settle for just being a Graduate Teaching Assistant for now as he was still stuck in the deep and dark hell that is the journey to getting a doctoral degree, but little did he know that becoming a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Coruscant University would be the greatest decision he'd ever make.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	Helping Hand

Anakin was now standing right in front of the high school he would be working in for a semester. He graduated last year with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, and shortly after, he entered a graduate school as he went after a PhD to be able to teach in Coruscant University. It was highly recommended, even almost a requirement, to have some sort of way to experience working in Science during his time at graduate school, so he decided to become a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Coruscant University to give him teaching experience in the school. He learned that he would end up assisting a young full professor named Padmé Amidala, but he didn’t actually see her yet.

After getting lost in the premises for an embarrassingly long time, he finally found the science faculty. He entered and was immediately greeted by a bearded man with light brown hair. He greeted the older man with an extremely shy smile, and he replied with a much more confident smile of his own and a slightly awkward wave that Anakin didn’t exactly notice. Anakin added a slight ‘hi’ to his greeting as well.

“Hello,” the older man greeted with an outstanding British accent. “I assume you’re…Anakin Skywalker?”

“Yes,” Anakin nodded. “That’s me.”

“And, you’re here to assist a certain Padmé Amidala?”, he asked with a raised eyebrow. “Also, before anything, I am Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” he shook his hand. “And, yes, I am here to assist her.”

Obi-Wan nodded, “Come with me.”

Obi-Wan led Anakin through a bunch of rooms before they came up to a woman whom Anakin assumed to be said Padmé. The first thing Anakin thought was that she was _absolutely gorgeous_ with her brown curly hair and brown eyes. He assumed that by a young full professor, they meant someone in their late 20s or early 30s, and this young professor was certainly looking the part. He tried not to get it into his head though knowing she was certainly _miles_ out of his age group (being 24) and would essentially be superior to him. The woman looked up at Anakin with a smile, a sense of formality in it but seemed more genuine to him.

“You must be Anakin,” she greeted as the two shook his hands. “I’m Padmé Amidala.”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Now, I should probably get straight to the point here, you’ll be running office hours, tutoring, invigilating exams, and helping me out during lectures,” she said. “I know that you probably know of that already, but it’s a formality, so please don’t mind it.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” he shook his head. “So, uh, where do I sit?”

“Here,” she gestured to the seat next to hers. “Right next to mine.”

____________________

“So, since nothing is really going on at the moment, don’t you think it would be a good idea for us to get to know each other, to get acquainted?”, Anakin suggested. “That is if you want to, of course.”

“I’d like that,” she smiled. “How about you go first? You were the one who suggested it, after all.”

“Well, I’m 24. I actually passed high school at 17, so I was planning to wait out a year to get the money together, but since I got a scholarship at Tatooine, I jumped to college at 17 years old. I got a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at 22. I waited out for a year before entering graduate school, so I came into grad school at 23. This is my, uh, 13th month in grad school. I’m set to be in grad school for two years,” he explained.

“I see,” she replied, nodding. “I’m 29, actually. I’m actually the youngest full professor here at the moment. I passed high school at 17 just like you, and I got a scholarship as well which meant I went to college at 17. I got my BSChem at 21. I’m not sure if it’s quite young, but I went to graduate school at the same age. I got out of graduate school at 22 and worked on postdoc for two years before eventually putting it all together to see if I can land a job here. I had my first eval two years after I began working here, and I didn’t really have a chance at tenure then. My second evaluation, however, did get me tenure and made me a full professor. This is my first year with it.”

 _29? YES!,_ “Oh, so you had one evaluation to spare?”

She chuckled, “Yes, I do. What are your plans?”

“To get a PhD, of course, and to teach here,” he answered. “I always wanted to be the achiever in the family. My family life was…a bit difficult. I lost my dad when I was, like, 14 years old. He worked as a police officer, and he was always the working parent. He died to some criminal of some kind, I don’t know, and when we got the news, my mom began working. The jobs she found weren’t the highest paying ones, so she did two of them to make sure me and my younger sister, Ahsoka, could go to school. I was planning on working after high school to get some money for college, but like I said earlier, I got a scholarship.”

She smiled, “I’m sure your parents would be proud.”

____________________

It was now Padmé’s first class. She would be teaching chemistry, quite obviously, and Anakin would be helping her out. Anakin’s duties as a Graduate TA was slightly confusing as a lot of his jobs would make him act like an individual teacher (i.e. working office hours, being able to tutor, and also often being tasked with watching over students taking exams), but he would almost always go around with Padmé to help her with class rather than hosting individual classes of his own, though Padmé did tell him she would give him a lot of chances to teach the students and give out short lectures on his own.

“Good morning, class,” Padmé greeted before she placed her stuff on the table and began setting up her laptop. As she was preparing, she could hear murmurs of students replying to her greeting. Anakin decided to help her out with the table.

Padmé clapped her hands as she made her way to the front of the table and in front of all the students, and Anakin was sat nearby, “Well, good morning, everyone. I am Padmé Amidala, and I will be teaching chemistry to all of you, at least for this semester. You can all call me Professor Amidala, Doctor Amidala, or Ms. Amidala, I don’t mind whatever you choose.”

She then gestured to Anakin, signaling him to introduce himself, so Anakin stood up to do so, “And, I am Anakin Skywalker, I will be helping out Professor Amidala throughout the semester and will be helping all of you here as well. Since I am most likely only one to three years older than you all, calling me Anakin will suffice, but you can also call me Mr. Skywalker, whatever you choose.”

____________________

The rest of the day and the following ones went smoothly for Anakin. He and Padmé were definitely at least acquaintances at this point, and he thought to himself that it was a start, but at the same time, he was internally berating himself for trying to find a way to go on a date with his superior. On the bright side, at least they came to a point where they were both comfortable with calling each other by their first name, though he supposed that would eventually have to happen if the two were to work together well. Now, this was definitely getting bad, but luckily, he knew the perfect person to talk to about this.

_ANAKIN: Hello, ‘Soka?_

_AHSOKA: Skyguy? Hey._

_ANAKIN: I was wondering if you could help me out with something._

_AHSOKA: What is it?_

_ANAKIN: I may or may not have become infatuated with the professor I’m working with._

_AHSOKA: DUDEEEE, wouldn’t she be like in her late 30s or 40s? She’s WAYYY out of your age group._

_ANAKIN: No, she’s one of those rare ones. You know, those in their 20s._

_AHSOKA: Exactly how old is she?_

_ANAKIN: 29!_

_AHSOKA: Okay, she’s definitely in your age group. Yeah, this is bad._

_ANAKIN: SHOULD I ASK HER OUT!?_

_AHSOKA: Maybe soon, but not now. You two gotta be friends, and you should probably look for clues to see if she likes you, too. You’re only, like, 4 years younger than her, so it’s very much possible._

_ANAKIN: God, you deserve a Bachelor’s degree in Romantic Relationships if you ask me. Thanks, Snips._

_AHSOKA: Hey, no problem._

_ANAKIN: Alright, I’ll see you now. Still got some crap to do._

_AHSOKA: Okay, well, bye, then._

_ANAKIN: Bye._

Anakin ended the call.

____________________

As the days passed, Anakin’s liking for Padmé became more and more obvious to the point that some students even asked him about it, and some of the more daring ones made fun of him for it. He often replied by saying that he would neither confirm nor deny the truth in their statements, but what he didn’t realize was that it only made the students believe more in the idea that he had feelings for the young professor he’d assist in classes. At some point, Anakin just decided to ignore it all, albeit their comments definitely being hard to simply ignore. Why he didn’t simply call them out or tell them off for it was a very good question.

Anakin was now sitting in front of a student who wanted to consult him for some help.

“So, do you understand how this works now?”, Anakin asked after giving out a small lecture to the student who was full of questions. “You seem like you did.”

“Yes,” the student nodded. “I guess I do now.”

“Good to hear,” he smiled. “Anything else?”

“No,” she replied. “Well, actually, I do.”

“What is it?”

“Do you still keep answering that you’ll neither confirm nor deny the idea that you have feelings for Professor Amidala?”

“Yes, why?”

“Well, really, it’s only making it more obvious,” she pointed out. “I’m not trying to make fun of you for it or anything or trying to assume something, but that’s only making students believe more in the idea.”

“Yeah, I…guess you’re right,” he sighed. “I suppose that if it is true, I’ve never really been that good at hiding it.”

“I…am gonna go now,” the girl said. “I still have some people I want to talk to.”

“Okay,” Anakin nodded.

____________________

It was the last day of the semester, and more importantly, the last time he’d get to see Padmé if he didn’t have anything to say about it. Anakin was planning on doing it late to help him be more prepared, but if he was being honest, the fact that he was doing late made him even more pressured and nervous. When he took Ahsoka’s idea into consideration of waiting, he eventually realized she didn’t exactly mean waiting until the very last day to ask her out, and now, he was going to pay the price for it.

He approached Padmé during her breaktime, simply meaning the one time she isn’t annoyed by having to do something university-related, and she looked up at him as he came up to her.

“Anakin, hey,” she greeted with a small smile on her face.

“Hey, Padmé,” he replied before sitting down in front of her. “I hope you don’t mind me sitting here.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” she nodded. “So, what brings you here?”

“I…was actually hoping to ask you something. It’s not really something about chemistry, don’t worry.”

“Oh?”, he could easily see the curiosity sparking in her eyes, and the barest trace of hope that she’d be willing to go out on a date with him.

“I was…just wondering if you’d like to…get some coffee with me or something like that sometime. I don’t know,” he shrugged, nervousness and lack of preparation quickly getting the better of him. “I could take you out to a dinner sometime or wherever you’d want to go. I kind of don’t want to lose track of you.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Dinner? Are you talking about a date?”

“No,” he shook his head before eventually nodding. “Well, yeah, I-I guess so.”

She smiled with a small giggle, “I’d love that.”

Anakin’s sigh of relief afterwards was the most obvious thing in the world.

____________________

Luke burst into his parents’ personal office, and Leia followed him shortly after. What they saw was the exact same thing as when they burst into the room a good twenty minutes ago: Anakin working through a gigantic pile of papers on his desk just like those on Padmé’s with Padmé standing by the side of the room as she answered a call, albeit probably a different call compared to the one from twenty minutes ago. 

“No, I need those papers by tomorrow,” Padmé demanded to whomever she was speaking with on the phone. “The photocopier got fixed on Friday, so surely, you can do it. The students aren’t going to be happy if I can’t give it to them on Monday.”

Luke kept on listening until Anakin leaned to the side to be able to talk to him, “Luke? Leia? Do you two need anything?”

“Daddy, you promised you and Mommy would play with us,” Luke pointed out, clearly frowning. “When are you? I mean, we love playing with Auntie ‘Soka, but we wanna play with you and Mommy, too.”

“Yeah, you said you and Mommy would be finished by now,” Leia added. “But, you’re not.”

Anakin sighed before walking over to his twin children and squatting to get to their height level, “Me and Mommy work some pretty demanding jobs. Both of us are professors, which are basically teachers if you two don’t know, in Coruscant University, and that means a lot of work. We don’t just teach students, we have to check their exams, attend meetings, conduct research, so many things.”

Leia frowned, “That’s boring. You and Mommy should just play with us instead, it’s more fun!”

“Trust me, Leia, me and Daddy desperately want to play with you two,” Padmé said from behind the two as she placed her phone on her desk.

“Well, why don’t you?”, Luke asked.

“Because me and Daddy have work, and if we don’t do well, we might get fired. If both of us don’t have a job, we won’t be able to pay for all the stuff we have,” Padmé explained. “Me and Daddy are finishing up our work now. We were just running a bit late since people keep on calling us. Do you want me and Daddy to make it up for you two?”

“Yes!”, they answered in unison.

“Well, how?”

“You two promised you’d tell us the story of how you and Daddy met someday. Tell us when you’re done!”, Leia answered.

“Okay,” Padmé answered. “That sounds good.” Padmé then kissed Luke and Leia’s forehead, and Anakin did the same shortly after.

____________________

“So, Mommy, Daddy, how did you guys meet?”, Luke asked when his parents finally finished.

“We wanna know!”, Leia exclaimed. “We wanna know!”

“Okay, okay,” Anakin nodded. “Calm down, you two. Padmé, how about you start it with your side of the story?”

“Well,” Padmé cleared her throat in dramatic fashion. “It all started when I met this man who was going to be my teaching assistant, and his name was Anakin Skywalker. When I fir-“

“Teaching assistant?”, Luke frowned. “Isn’t Daddy a professor just like you, Mommy?”

“I am,” Anakin confirmed.

“Then, why were you a teaching assistant?”, Leia asked.

“Because back then, I wasn’t exactly a professor. I applied to become a teaching assistant, and I was assigned to assist Mommy. After working hard, I eventually did become one, though.”

“Okay,” Luke nodded. “Keep going, Mommy.”

“As I was saying, when I first met Daddy, my first thought was that he was _drop-dead gorgeous_ , and I was so happy that I’d work with him for the semester. Eventually, the semester was coming to an end, and I tried to work up to courage to ask him out on a date, but I failed. Luckily, Daddy was the one who asked me on a date. I was a bit nervous because it might seem inappropriate, but Daddy wouldn’t be working as my assistant by the time we’d date after all. Ever since then, we only fell more and more in love.”

“Until you two eventually married?”, Leia added, though it was more of a question, really.

“Yes, and I eventually gave birth to you two,” she confirmed with a smile.

“Well, I guess it’s my turn to say the part,” Anakin said. “When I first met Mommy, my first thought was that she was _absolutely beautiful_ , and like Mommy, I was so happy that we’d work together for the semester. As time passed, my liking for Mommy became more and more obvious, and the students eventually began talking to me about it. I ignored them. I talked to your Auntie ‘Soka to get some advice, and she said for me to wait until me and Mommy became friends to ask Mommy out on a date. I did, and I asked her out on the last day of the semester. She said yes, as both of you. Our first kiss came on our first date. It kept getting better and better, and soon, me and Mommy got married. We bought a big, lovely house, and that house is where we are at right now.”

Leia frowned, “That was not as good as I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“I would’ve pictured you saving Mommy from some bad people, and Mommy would thank you with a kiss. It got better and better until you two would get married.”

Anakin laughed as Padmé replied, also laughing, “Don’t worry, eventually you two will have your own love stories to tell us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did I literally just ignore the existence of associate professors for the sake of Padmé being a young professor? Yes, yes, I did.


End file.
